Batman: Arkham City Will Contain More Than 40 Hours Of Content

In an interview with British newspaper The Guardian, Sefton Hill, Director of Batman: Arkham City, said the game will feature at least 40 hours of content. Side-missions alone are said to have 15 hours of content and can be completed any time within the frame of the overall story.

It was just two months ago that marketing game manager for Rocksteady, Dax Ginn, said that the game's main story could be completed in as few as eight hours, but we're hoping the new number is more accurate. To be fair, Ginn also put forth the disclaimer that, "It's very difficult to put a number on it."

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"It’s completely down to the player when and how they want to tackle this – there’s no right or wrong time," Hill said. Hill also boasted a 25-hour playtime for Arkham City's main story and complimented his team's ability to keep the experience engaging from start to finish. Holy Hugeness, Batman!

So, with a 25 hour main campaign and 15 hours worth of side-stories with their own narratives, can we plan for Arkham City to be one of the biggest releases this fall - not only in terms of hype and anticipated sales, but content as well? 

"We spend months planning out the distribution of the new abilities throughout the game to ensure that players are not overwhelmed at the start, and from this point forward is getting a constantly evolving experience perfectly balanced with their learning curve," Hill said. "The new abilities, upgrades and most importantly, the player's mastery of the character, give this progression, resulting in an experience at the end of the game which is almost unrecognisable from that at the start."

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Also, here's an analogy you might not have expected: As Hill talked about the game's progression, he compared it to learning a musical instrument: "Playing a great, well-balanced, fine-tuned game is almost like learning a musical instrument in fast forward. As players progress, the music they make will surprise even themselves." Aww, that's so cute for a game about playing a man wearing a bat costume beating up supervillains.

In either case, clear your calendars: Batman: Arkham City hits shelves for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC on October 18.

Source: The Guardian